Ancestry.com weighs sale, seeks buyers -Bloomberg

Reuters

June 5 (Reuters) - Family-history research websiteAncestry.com Inc is thinking of putting itself up onthe block and is working with Frank Quattrone's QatalystPartners to find buyers, Bloomberg news reported, citing aperson with knowledge of the situation.

The Provo, Utah-based company which operates a website thatallows people to trace their family roots by scouring onlinerecords, will probably attract interest from private-equityfirms, Bloomberg quoted the person as saying.

Last month, U.S. network NBC decided not renew the company'sTV show for a fourth season, causing a slump its share price.

The show, based on the idea of tracing celebrities' familyhistory through Ancestry.com's databases, has been considered amajor driver of new subscriber additions for the website.

Ancestry.com, which went public in 2009, has a marketvaluation of $964.4 million based on Tuesday's closing shareprice, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The company had 1.87 million subscribers as of March 31.

Ancestry.com and Qatalyst Partners could not be immediatelyreached for comment outside U.S. business hours.